Fulham striker Bobby Zamora out for 'minimum of four months' with broken ankle

12 September 2010 12:01

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Zamora suffered the damage to his right leg during a hard challenge from Wolves skipper Karl Henry and received oxygen before being carried off on a stretcher and taken to hospital.

Fulham manager Mark Hughes revealed that he could be out for longer if surgery reveals further damage.

Related ArticlesZamora adds to Capello's injury woesFulham 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1Premier League tableNew Fulham contract for ZamoraArsenal make final move for SchwarzerLiverpool rebuffed over Zamora"If the injury is as we think it is, it's likely to be four months," he said.

"If the surgeon goes in and finds other damage rather than just the break, which is four centimetres above his ankle, it will be even longer than that.

"The four months looks like a minimum."

Hughes remonstrated with referee Phil Dowd on the pitch after the half-time whistle had blown but later conceded Henry's tackle was not malicious.

"It's a shame but I don't really lay the blame on the player (Henry). It's one of those," said Hughes.

"There's always a danger if you get tackled from the side or from behind that players' legs can get trapped.

"I don't think there was any intent to hurt Bobby. You don't expect the circumstances of the injury to be the result of a challenge like that, but it can happen.

"At the time I was a little bit disappointed that the referee didn't view it as a foul, but there you go."

Zamora won his first England cap last month and only missed the recent Euro 2012 qualifiers because of a thigh problem, leading Hughes to lament the timing of Saturday's injury.

"Bobby had got to a point where he was playing at a high level and producing week-in, week-out," said Hughes.

"Bobby would be honest enough to admit he hasn't been able to maintain that level of performance over long periods during his career.

"But he's reached that point so to be taken out of top level football for four months is a real disappointment for him and us.

"I've spoken to him already and he seems to be in good spirits."

Wolves were shown six yellow cards and one red - Christophe Berra was sent off in injury time for a second bookable offence - but Hughes denied they were too physical.

"Wolves were competitive as you'd expect. Mick McCarthy sets his teams up to compete for every ball," he said.

"The Premier League is competitive and I've had similar criticism in the past. Sometimes it's warranted and sometimes it isn't.

"Maybe today some of the fouls were made to break up our momentum and maybe at times were a little bit cynical. That's why the crowd was getting frustrated.

"I'd never criticise any team for trying to be competitive against us - that's part and parcel of the Premier League."

New signing Mousa Dembele hit both of Fulham's goals, the second coming from the injury-time free-kick won when Berra was sent off.

"Mousa was excellent again and is an exciting player. When he's in possession you expect something positive to happen," said Hughes

"There aren't that many players in the Premier League who have that ability.

"At times it felt like things were going against us - losing Bobby and we had two stonewall penalties turned down.

"When those things conspire against you, you believe that you won't get what you deserve but we were rewarded in the end."

Fulham fans chanted "you're a disgrace to the Premiership" at Wolves in the second half and McCarthy insisted his side are earning a reputation they do not deserve.

"I think it's grossly unfair. I'm really sorry to hear about Bobby but Danny Murphy came to me and said he'd have a word with Bobby because it was a fair and good tackle," said McCarthy.

"We were involved in a tough game on TV a couple of weeks ago and suddenly we're the devil incarnate, but we're far from that. We compete and compete fairly.

"We had some silly bookings and I'm mad at Christophe for getting sent off.

"But I don't see us as some overly-physical team that deserves that sort of treatment."